Like driving an aircraft carrier

Have you ever driven an aircraft carrier? Me neither. But, I'll bet, out of my blog readership, somebody actually has. For the sake of metaphor here, lets assume our ship is about the weight of an anvil that size.

 If you want to make the aircraft carrier go, you step on the accelerator, and then in about an hour or so, the thing starts to move. Once you get it going though, it will ride along mightily over "old ocean's gray and melancholy waste" till you reach your destination. It takes a long time for that much mass to slow down, so if you want to stop in about an hour, you better hit the brakes now.

My job is lot like that. After I make the paintings, I put on a different hat. I am the owner of a micro business. A McDonalds is small business, I have more in common with a tradesman of the olden days, like a furniture maker. I am a cottage industry, a microbusiness. I make a small amount of expensive objects in a simple workshop, alone, I sell them to a small group of clients who  enjoy and can afford fine art. I work with dealers, clients, and a little promotion to sell the art and get it out into the world at a faster clip than the world is removing money from my pocket. If at the end of this month for instance, I have enough money to pay my bills and maybe buy a sofa, it is not because of what I did this month. The decisions and work that made that happen, were mostly made several months ago. If I am not in the black  the mistakes (or more likely misjudgements) were usually made months ago. If I go through a period where I am not hitting it and the pictures are not as good as they should be, several months from now that is going to show up on my ledger.


I am probably slower at production than lots of other artists, I discard at least half the paintings I start outside. I work on those I keep, sometimes only a few hours, or sometimes for weeks before they are ready to go out the door. Back in the early eighties when I was selling paintings for eighty five to one hundred and twenty five dollars, I tried to make one a day. I made and sold stacks of paintings, most of them very small. I had a tiny little art gallery in Rockport and didn't show many other places (there weren't many other places to show, in those days). I had more inventory then, but still sometimes I would be in a crises when that ran low. As  I have developed more expertise and a small following I have been able to raise my prices. I don't have a lot of inventory, I destroy my old paintings  that haven't sold, unless I really believe in them, or I see an obvious flaw that I can rework before sending them out again into the marketplace. I deal in newly made paintings, or at least paintings made over the last year or two. I  don't make carloads of art anymore. I make fewer, and far better considered paintings.

 If you are asking serious money for your art, a lot is going to be expected of you. There are many fine and tempting things that the limited number of art collectors in my price bracket might prefer to my latest daub.The paintings need to be as good as I can make them, my life actually depends on that. If I don't sell paintings I will eat snowballs this winter.They need to look like they are well worth buying at that price point.

Many single paintings can be finished and out the door quickly enough, and a request from a show for a single piece is sometimes easy to manage. But more commonly I need to deliver paintings in groups of six or so, because that is about the number a gallery needs to make a presentation. Less than that and a gallery is probably not stocked well enough to sell my art. Often that group of paintings need to be of a special sort or area, like South Carolina, or Maine. I have to travel to that area, make lots of paintings then return home and finish them, discarding the weaker or stymied efforts as I go. That's not something I can do quickly, it takes planning and lead time. And after all of that, it might be months before the paintings are sold, maybe a year or two sometimes. Unfortunately some will not sell, and the knackers must come to the farm. To add complexity to my inventory management, the Maine pictures cannot be sent to South Carolina if they remain unsold. Thankfully, if I am patient, there are few of those.
Often a gallery is seasonal and I might be stocking them in anticipation of a coming busy time a few months out.

So months out, I have to plan what I am going to make and where it is going to go. It is only sometimes possible to capitalize on a sudden opportunity. Most of the big deals and events are on the chart and planned for months in advance. I have to choose carefully which galleries I stock, because I can't do that many.  I can't be in all the shows that I would like, particularly not shows for which I must hold a painting long time prior. If I get invited to be in a show, the gallery will usually want an image a month or even several months before the show opens. I try to give them the best painting I can.Then I have to hold that picture until the show, not let one of my galleries have it. After the show,which might run a month, or several,whether the painting is sold or not, I am now about three months into the project. If it is sold the gallery will wait a month to pay me. That pushes the cycle on that piece out to four months.

What this means is that in my art business, this month is mostly determined by what I was doing about three months ago, and I am today working toward sales that I hope will happen several months in the future. Although there are the pleasant surprises when a gallery calls and a sale has been made suddenly or a client e-mails me ready to buy a painting, most of the time it is like driving an aircraft carrier. If I want to be making money several months from now the efforts have to begin now.

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Canton, Mississippi

Gee, I hope you all know I am doing a workshop in Mississippi real soon, October 18th 19th and 20th, if you want to come and paint the beautiful street scenes of historic Canton with me go here to sign up!
I have taught this one before and it is a splendid place to paint. Canton is not too far from Jackson, which has a major airport. Below is a demo I did last time I was there. In the evenings I will lecture from my laptop over dinner, I am rolling out  new and improved versions of my evening presentations.

Durham, North Carolina

I am teaching a workshop in Durham, on November 1-3,  Here is the link to that. 

 I like being in the South, Its a lot different than New England, ( I have become such a New Englander) but I have been in the South many times and I always enjoy the southern culture, food, architecture and history. Late fall should be a lovely time to paint in North Carolina.

 

Negotiating commissions for paintings

 This post was prompted by someone mentioning to me that their neighbor had a big, fancy house and maybe I should paint a picture of it because the owner might buy it. That is not something I would  do. I paint what I want, that is, unless someone is willing to pay me well to paint what they want. Even then, I have to be at least half way interested in making the picture. I am too lazy to work for money alone, I need a thrill.

 Occasionally I am asked to undertake a commission to  paint a  picture for a client though. Portrait painters do this a lot, landscape painters less often. Still, over the years I have done many. When I opened my first gallery in Rockport in 1983 I decided that I would take any job that came through the door, I figured I would learn from that. I did some crazy things, like repainting part of a circus wagon and replacing a missing head in a spurious Corot. The client loved my work! He said it looked just like Elvis. I had to do a dog portrait or two in that era too. The canid is always dead in those deals, and appears only in one out of focus photograph. It was always a copy the photo job, lots of dreary work and short pay.These days I only am willing to do landscapes and there are a lot of people out there who will paint your house or last year's pup a whole lot cheaper.

Sometimes however a commission comes along for something that falls within the  bounds of my specialty.When it does, what I tell the potential client is exactly this;

I DON'T CHARGE MORE TO DO COMMISSIONS, BUT I GET HALF UP FRONT, AND HALF UPON YOUR SATISFIED ACCEPTANCE. THAT HALF IS NONREFUNDABLE.

 You simply MUST get half up front! Don't undertake any job without it. If they are in for half, they will still want the picture when you have made it. Not getting the down payment will result in your getting stuck working for free. Maybe not the first time or the second, but sooner or later you will get stuck.  This is particularly important if you are making something that only that client would want. You will have a hard time selling a picture of their late poodle-muskrat mix sitting obediently  on  grandmas neon orange afghan to anyone else.

Never accept the entire fee upfront. I want to be rewarded when I finish the job, if I am already paid for it, I have a hard time keeping it ahead of other projects. If I know that when I deliver the piece I get paid, that serves as a carrot on the stick for me. Also, be absolutely sure they understand that the down payment is nonrefundable, you are hired to make the art and you will make it. Thats what the down payment hires you to do.The second payment is your reward for making sure they are happy with the finished piece.


I give them a rough idea of how long it will take me to do it, usually in months. I don't accept tight deadlines. Sometimes a painting can suddenly become a lot more work than I anticipated. Illustrators are skilled in turning out art on short schedules, I am not.

I always provide a frame.That picture is going to have my name on it out there in the world. A handmade closed cornered frame makes my work look best. My client might go to the local framer and get a frame that looks like the box Velveeta comes in. Generally the client is familiar with my work and expects the high quality frames I use anyway.
  
I often arrange to deliver the finished work in person.  Frequently the client wants some little thing changed. I have my paint kit  in the trunk of my car and I fix whatever it is then and there. The client then has personalized the painting and feels like it is now "theirs". I delivered a painting of Polpis harbor to a client once on Nantucket, they wanted the painting because their catboat was in it. The buyer looked at the new painting with elegant concern and explained that I had failed to include the boom crutch. That's a Y shaped piece of board that secures the boom  when the boat is moored. I installed that boom crutch in about thirty seconds and the buyer was delighted. I hate boats, they sink.

  One of the dangers of  commissions and something that portrait painters face routinely, is when the painting becomes a joint effort between the artist and a second party who knows NOTHING about art. Sometimes they will want  something done in the painting that you know will weaken it. So far I have been able to dissuade my clients from what I know are bad decisions, and they have trusted my judgement. But I have had a few scary moments and I have been lucky that my employers (for that is what they are) have respected my experience enough to defer to my opinion.

As I said above, I went through a period when I accepted every commission that came my way, and that was a great learning experience. Later I decided that it was imperative to be choosier. There were jobs that were worth more than the client was willing to pay, for instance. There were jobs that were distasteful or vulgar. I was once hired to paint a picture of a young boy pulling a sled through a woods full of new fallen snow. The man wouldn't accept the picture until I made the boys butt larger and more appealing. I made it the size of a pair of grapefruit, the child sported a fixture like Jennifer Lopez when I was done with him. But I decided that was enough of that kind of work.

 An offer of a commission is just that, a proffered deal. You are under no compulsion to enter into the arrangement, you need to compare it to the profit and enjoyment you might have from doing something else with your time. Some offered commissions will be profitable for you, and some will not. Guys who build or repair houses learn that, so should you. Picking and choosing which commissions to do can make or break you. There are plenty of people who have little respect for art, or are well meaning but have little idea of the time it takes to make a painting and they will expect you to work for  short money. You deserve to be as well paid as a carpenter.

You should reject those commissions, and wait for better offers to come along.There's an old saying " I bargained with the world for a penny, and that's all it would pay!" I did a lot of that, way too much.  You should place a high value on what you do and you are in a position to insist others to do so as well. If it takes a long time to paint a picture and then you sell it for short money, you have lost money, not made it. That was a hard lesson for me. It took me years to figure that out. Never compromise your quality for money, particularly short money. You will spend the money quickly, but that painting will bear your signature for generations, and it WILL show up on e-bay someday, count on it.

A PAINTING HAS NOTHING TO RECOMMEND IT OTHER THAN IT BE WELL MADE. IT WON'T SHINE YOUR SHOES OR  REINFLATE YOUR TIRES. ITS' ONLY VALUE LIES IN IT'S QUALITY. 

 I have worked weeks to make a 300 dollar painting, but not in a long time. I was once approached by  woman who had just been married, this was in about 1984. She had a picture of herself and her new husband that had been shot  in the later hours of their wedding reception. She hadn't hired a  photographer and wanted me to make a wedding picture from the photo. The offer was 300 bucks. I did a lot of 300 dollar deals in those days. In the picture the porcine lout was grinning foolishly and  had  consumed a drink or two. I never saw the actual groom himself. I explained to her that all I could do was reproduce the photo in paint as I had nothing else to go on. I labored on that portrait for weeks, WEEKS! It was only a 16 by 20. I changed the background to a lovely rose window so it would look look a church. I straightened his tie and removed the crimson from his scelera and the dark five 0'clock shadow from his australopithicine jaw. When she came to pick up the painting I had worked so hard to make, she practically threw the money at me and stomped out of my studio. She expected somehow that I would paint the charming Romeo she knew, rather than the sodden tongueswallower in the photo. Maybe she was unhappy with the way she looked in the photo, I know I was. The moral of this story is, if you must work from a photo, be sure it is a good one. Your client has no idea of the limitations which the bad photo places on you, and expects you to paint what they think of the subject, not what the reference they have given you shows. Regardless of what they pay, people always expect a wonderful work of art. They will never say "oh well, I only paid 300 dollars for it"
My advice is, don't work for money. The world has more ordinary paintings than it needs, work to make beautiful and excellent art. The money will follow. If you absolutely have to make money to survive by your art, make 8 by10's, on spec. But make them wonderful and sincere, sell them cheaply if you must. Sell them on the web for what the market will bear. You will be running a long term plan that will lead to excellence and pride in what you do. Look at your work as building an artist.

workshops for sale

 Fall Color Workshop  September 8th through 10th


 This is the Sunset Hill Inn in Franconia, New Hampshire. I have been teaching workshops there for about three years and it is the ideal location.  Because I have taught so many workshops there the inn keepers have learned what painters at a workshop need and they are now practiced at hosting my workshops and making sure we have what we need to operate without any distractions or responsibilities other than painting.There is a broad rear porch that overlooks the mountains so we can still paint outside no matter what the weather does. The lower level of the inn  is ours to store our paints and canvas so we don't have to haul it all to our rooms and it makes a good place to teach too. The view of the mountains is spectacular and in the fall it will be even better. The inn takes good care of us. We have our own private dining room too. They handle  our meals and even bring us lunch so  we can work all day uninterrupted. The inn is one of those big old historic affairs from the 19th century and is homey and informal. Most of the rooms have gas fireplaces, and it is cool in the evenings up in the mountains in the fall, so that is nice after a day outside. It is nessasary to stay in the inn to take the workshop.

 This will be the first fall workshop I have done there and I am thrilled. I love teaching workshops anyway. Everyone is always excited to be there and hang out with the other artists. It is like a three day party. We go from breakfast until bedtime. This is a total immersion program and I run the class about 12 hours a  day. I do an evening lecture while we wait for dinner to be served.The fall color in the White Mountains is legendary and people come from all over the world to see it. In the 19th century all of the great Hudson River painters made a point of being there too, just a few miles up the road from the inn. We don't need to leave the grounds of the inn  to find great subject matter so their is no problem with hauling easels around or caravanning cars to daily locations. We just walk out the back door and the whole Presidential range is spread out before us.

The schedule includes;

• a demo every morning, on the first day I explain the palette and the various pigments.
• In the afternoon the students paint and I run from easel to easel doing individual instruction and try to diagnose each students particular barriers to better painting.
•  after the demo each day I run  a series of exercises  teaching root skills like creating vibrating color and the parts of the light (that is what you need to know to establish light in a painting) I am going to add a new exercise this time on color mixing.
• I do a presentation before dinner with images from my laptop. One is a history of White Mountain art so you can see what the greats of American painting did with the same landscape we will be painting during the day. The other is unpacking out  the design ideas in the works of great landscape painters, particularly Edward Seago and Aldro Hibbard, two favorite artists of mine.

If you have never seen autumn in New England this is your chance to paint the most spectacular fall color in America. The cost of the workshop is 300 dollars, I charge a 150 deposit up front when you register. In return for that I will hold your place in the class. I wont give away your place to anyone else, so I don't return deposits. If you don't intend to come, don't sign up!

It is necessary that you stay in the inn for the workshop. The workshop is a collaboration between me and the inn. They provide a special reduced rate for the workshop participants. In the past several people have asked if they could stay with their brother in law or mistress who live nearby. If you want to do that, it's OK but you will have to pay a flat fee of 150 dollars to the inn for the use of their facilities. That fee will include your breakfasts, lunches and one dinner.Here is their web address:
http://www.sunsethillhouse.com/


Sunset Hill House
231 Sunset Hill Road
Sugar Hill, NH 03586
603-823-5522

Some rambling thoughts on inexpensive art

Carl Faberge 1846-1920 The head of a famed Russian jewelry workshop, Faberge produced thousands of fine objects but the best known are the Faberge eggs. Often their creation was the work of thousands of hours of highly skilled craftsmanship. Most were made for the Tzar as gifts for his mother and wife. The jewelry firm was destroyed by the revolution and Faberge escaped to Switzerland.

Here's a question I received the other day:

"I have a problem selling paintings to friends and/or family. I feel they expect a discount, a hefty discount, and somehow I feel guilty if I don't give them a REALLY good deal... I get this knot in the pit of my stomach every time a good friend or family asks about buying a painting because I know I'm going to have to practically give it to them. I recently sold one that way, and gave the person about 75% off gallery price, and they still haggled with me about paying the shipping. sheesh!!! I was hoping they wouldn't buy it....but they liked it.So, do you have a standard "friends and family discount" or do you just tell them the price, and that's it....? "

That' a difficult question to answer for everybody, but here is how I have handled that. My most recent, favorite, or most likely to sell paintings are never gifted to anyone. I must make a living, first and foremost, before I give anything away. I cannot feed my children snowballs all winter. However I make a lot of art and sometimes things come back from the galleries unsold, even though they might be paintings that I am proud to have made. Sometimes I will give these to people. I have friends who will never be able to afford my paintings and, I try to make sure that my close friends in this category have one of my paintings.Often they get a painting that while well made, is a field sketch or not something that would be as appealing to the general public . That is what is sometimes called an "artists picture"

Anyone who I know that can afford to buy one of my paintings, has to buy them. If I know them quite well I will negotiate a lower price for them. Usually it is a generous but not ridiculous discount. I would rather just give the painting away than take obscenely short money for them. Again my art is expensive. If you are making paintings that sell at workingmans prices, say 300 dollars, I suggest you never give any of them away or discount them at all, except to the most impoverished of your close friends.I think their is a lot to lose by not valuing your own paintings .If you want others to value them, you should begin that yourself.

I often hear an artist who has just been praised on his art make excuses for its quality. I always tell students in workshops to never disparage their own art. Don't make excuses for it like"its not done" or point out a defect you believe it has. In fact, recommend you never make excuses for your art at all. I don't explain em much either, I present them and if you like them, fine. If you don't, I wont try to talk you into it or waste much time wishing that you did. Their are lots of other people and if the picture is any good someone else might. There is a saying in the art gallery world that "there is a buyer for every painting". I am not sure that is true of weak paintings, but it might be true of paintings at or above a certain level of quality. It can sometimes take a long time to get that painting in front of that buyer though.

If someone praises one of your paintings, even if they are totally uninformed and you know they are, smile and graciously accept the complement, don't tell them they are wrong.Even weak paintings are fiendishly hard to make, and it takes years of work and study to make a middling quality painting. If you can do it even a little, be proud of yourself and claim what laurels are offered. It is so hard to make a decent painting that it is a wonder that anyone ever does it! Take credit for your efforts, it will be more than a reward for the time spent it will also be a comfort and encouragement to you as you work towards making even better paintings.

I have noticed a funny disconnect in peoples thinking about art. They want it to be cheap when they buy it and valuable when they own it. I suppose that's just human nature, and everybody loves a bargain. When I had my gallery I had some small reputation for knowing my way around old paintings. Often people would bring me paintings that they had bought at auction. They would invariably tell me that they "knew" the painting was by Corot or some other master. I knew at a glance that it was not. These treasure hunters were always going to find some expert who would certify their find as being a real Corot,although unsigned, and they would resell it for a fortune.

Usually the works they lovingly presented me were amateurish and worth very little. Their owners were treasure hunting, and they didn't know enough about painting to know a good old painting from a weak one. There are LOTS of old paintings out there for sale and many of them are inexpensive. In the 19th century just like today there were plenty of amateur painters and also a "production" art industry making art much like the imported motel paintings of today.

I suppose that it makes sense that antique dealers and resellers of auction finds who have no idea what old paintings that are valuable might look like would have trouble pricing them. I have noticed many times that they usually price worthless, damaged, or old production paintings ridiculously high. The same folks sold me many etchings for ridiculously low prices, often marked as being "ink drawings". I built a nice little collection of old prints that way, they are not particularly valuable, but they are good art and original. These etchings have provided me with much pleasure and instruction.. I suppose the dealers are hipper than that now, that was a while ago, but I always check the price of etchings in the antique shops when I see them. I guess because they are black and white, dealers and perhaps their customers don't particularly value them. If bargains are to be had, that seems to be where I, at least, have found them.

I was once invited to visit the home of an old man ( now long deceased)who had spent a lifetime buying cheap paintings at auction. His limit was about 25 dollars. He had paintings stacked everywhere, on the stairs against the walls of every room and even in his kitchen cabinets. I grew bored pulling through them looking for anything that I though was fine or of any particular value. I am not sure he thought he had any masterpieces, he probably was satisfied just to get his 25 dollars worth. He was an interesting guy and had taken a number of photographs as he accompanied his mother who was working for the WPA documenting life in the impoverished depression era south. I bought one of his photographs of sorghum harvesting behind horse drawn wagons and met him when I sought him out to sign it for me. He placed no particular value on his photographs and I think I paid about 25 dollars for it.

Time management for artists

I received this e-mail:

I think a lot of us, especially if we are doing this full time, have difficulties in managing our time properly. Its difficult to organize a day when there are 20 things you'd like to paint, emails to respond too, late night deadlines that screw up the next days plans, people knocking on your door thinking that because you are a self employed artist and don;t punch a "normal" clock, you don't have any proper responsibilities and can drop anything you are doing because someone needs a favour. We have commissions to handle, money to manage, shows to submit to.

Some of us (me ) actually live in the studio so the line between what is work and rest gets blurred easily resulting in nothing really getting done. Some have rolodexes, some have schedules, "to do" lists that they make before they go to bed, big charts, or keep everything in their head.

What are some of your tips, and what have you learned to avoid throughout your career? Any pitfalls we should watch out for?
.........................a European friend

I am probably the last person to speak on time management. I get a lot done, but I am not orderly. My trick is that I work all the time. From when I get out of bed in the morning till I go to bed at night I am working. I have been doing that for almost 40 years. It works, at least in the long run. I sometimes am talking to a student in a workshop, or one of the people I mentor, and I realize that they think that any one day is going to make such a difference.

I have known many well organized daybook planner types who migrated into the art from the business world, and I haven't noticed they had any great advantage. The race is very long and won by those who get up and run every morning till the light fails. So the short answer is


IF YOU WANT TO BE AN ARTIST, HERE IS THE SECRET. GET UP EVERY DAY, AND DO IT ALL DAY.

I am not well organized, forget to write stuff down and would rather paint than do all of the the things that those creepy books written by career counselors recommend. But I guess I can come up with a few things.

• Find Earl Nightingale and study his material. Here is a link to a post I have written on that. I am not a devotee of self improvement literature. Earl is different.
• I often carry an index card in my left pocket with five things that I want to get done during the day. I check them off as I go.
• I avoid making appointments. I want to paint, not meet with people so I try to keep my schedule freed up. I will obsess about the damage to my work schedule caused by an hour long appointment sometime next week. If I have an appointment during an upcoming day, I look at that day as lost. I try to get as many things done after the light fails as I can, grocery shopping, laundry, family etc.
• I have no hobbies, I don't play or watch those sport things. I don't play video games or Farmville (whatever that is).
• I don't have a television. If you watch two hours of TV a day and wonder why you are not making it as an artist, you are kidding yourself about the size of what it takes to do this.
  
• I don't seek to earn money from other sources than my art. I don't own a rental unit nor do I buy stock, I am afraid it will divert my attention from my work, part of which is to make a living. If a dollar comes into this house it has to be from the art. I don't do jobs or employment.
• I have a a mental list of my contacts the people who are my dealers and fellow artist travelers. I call them routinely and check in. Speaking with my friends who are professional artists who are also at their easels helps. I have about a half dozen of those, and talking to them helps me build a model for my own efforts. We are working together, separately. Their lives are very like mine. We provide emotional support for one another. You need to have a network of people who you want to be like. I have that in spades, very important to me. These are successful painters, you would know their names. We become like the people we hang out with.
• I keep mental track of my time at the easel. Doing business things, talking on the phone, etc is all essential but it is not time spent on your art. You have to account for it separately.There is a lot of advice for artists out there on business management, most of it written by people from the business world who want to help us spaced out artists. I know a few artists who do all that stuff too. Often their work takes on the same quality though. It is real important to put your art first. ALWAYS THE ART COMES FIRST. Then worry about marketing it. Good art will sell. I don't mean to say that you don't have to do all of that phone calling a list keeping, but it is not as important as the art. I know a very successful artist who has no e-mail, no web site and no business card. He does do the phone a lot though.
• I use Google calender it is on G-mail. It notifies me before appointments and I can look in there and see what is coming up. Many computers are sold with calender and event programs and you probably have one.
• Once a month or sometimes more often, I call all of my dealers. I don't do it to ask if they have sold my work. I do it just to talk, I need to work with friends. If I can't be friends with a dealer usually things don't work out.

I will think about this some more and see what else I can come up with. I will do a post aimed at the serious amateur who has to have a life outside of the studio, which I don't.

More about the Cleavo- Heavo show.

I found this sign at the ferry terminal in Rockland, Maine. It means you won't be allowed in, but with a lot more attitude.

Below is another question from the comments on the Xanthippe Cleavage- Heaver show.

"I think she'd be smart to do at least 3 or 4 paintings on her scouting trip. Why waste time? Paint smart and fast... after all, you see what grabs you in about 3 - 10 seconds...then she can use the studies for some of the big ones she paints in her studio".

Stape sez.............

This is a possible show you could do and it might be very fine. But I am not a plein air, one shot and into the frame guy. Lots of people are and for them that might be the answer. I am not disparaging that, it's not what I would do myself. I in no way intend to tell this commenter or anyone else how they should do their show, but I , having done a number of shows have my own way I can reveal and some of you will find it useful. Some folks are quick to hear "You should do it THIS way!" when I mean only to describe how I would" do it" based on my own particular temperament, abilities and experience. This is an "opinion piece" and not Holy Writ. Bullets!

• I don't enjoy making small paintings as much as larger ones. I like the bigger canvas, I find it easier to think on. I enjoy working at least 16 by 20 and larger. I am very happy on a 24 by 30. I am not much slower at that scale either.
• I get something in a painting that I make on location, that I lose blowing paintings up from little studies in the studio. Enlarging studies does give an advantage in that I can apply a treatment or raison D'etre to the painting in the studio that wasn't in the study. I am probably going to end up doing just that for at least a few pictures in such a show, but it is also laborious and time consuming in the extreme (for me).
  
• If I am going to make a painting in the studio from a study done outside I would rather do that study 24" by 30". Here's why; If the study comes out real well, it's the painting. If it doesn't, I can either scrap it and try again (most likely ) or if it bears a fault that a redesign would cure, I might make a studio picture from it. When I do, I will have a full sized study to work with and not have the problem of enlarging a little painting, and the danger created by having to invent contents for the spaces that become empty and devoid of information as I enlarge the image.
• A majority of the 24" by 30"s I make will see a bit of work in the studio, some a lot. But then they will go onto the walls of the gallery (and rather efficiently), not anywhere near as quick as a one shot study, but relatively quickly. They will however have some of the immediacy that a painting done on location can have. That often isn't often in a blown up study. My brushwork will also have a better look if it is done on location. I can fake a passage or two in a painting but my brushwork is usually better outside responding to nature dancing in front of me than in my studio.
• Lastly, as you know, I do a bit of historicism in my painting and my heroes worked this way. When you go to a museum or gallery and see a Hibbard, Metcalf, Monet or other impressionist master, what you are looking at is the painting they made. It is not often the result of blowing up a little study. For the painters from a generation before, this would certainly have been the case, like Hudson River school work. But I do a more impressionist thing than that, generally.

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Snowcamp is scheduled, here is the information on that.

Held in late January and early February Snowcamp is the flagship model Stapleton Kearns workshop. Set in an old wooden inn on a high ridgetop in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the views from the property are unbelievable. With the inn there at your back, if you start to freeze, you can run inside for a cup of coffee and a warm up beside the fire. WE eat in our own dining room at a big round table and talk about art and our lives in it. These two workshops will fill, sign up if you want to go.

Interchangeable parts framing.

I was asked in the comments: how can you order the frames before the paintings are even made? How do you know what will match them?

I was writing to the lovely Mrs. Xanthippe Cleavage-Heaver about organizing a show. I suggested ordering the frames way up front in two sizes and all the same profile (shape) and finish. Incidentally I have written about buying framing before. I have written a lot about this sort of thing and those entries are labeled "The art business waltz", if you search the blog for those you will find the text. If I were writing a book I could assume you had read all the previous chapters on your way to this one and our conversation would be cumulative. In a blog you-all parachute in anywhere you damn well please.

I produce to many pictures to have a different dedicated frame for each on. I have to be able to trade paintings in and out of my frame as I take them from one gallery to another, sell one without a frame or lend one to an institution where they will be handled by clumsy intern children. For a show with a clear theme "Bridges along the Hudson" Xanthippe has a very reasonable excuse to use only a single frame design. It will tie the show together as a presentation.

If you have only the occasional picture to frame, perhaps up to a ten or more tuning each frame to each picture and leaving that picture always in that particular frame could work. But I make a lot of paintings. I need to know in fact, before I start a 16 by 20 that I have a frame that size. I don't want to sit on it until I do, I may want to show or sell it. I want that inventory working for me, not waiting for a frame in my studio. I am also likely to trade it into an existing frame from a picture that is returning from a gallery or show. I really need two frames for it, one for high end galleries whose handling I trust, and another to be damaged by interns.

There are many frames that will go on most paintings. Black frames or real gold frames go on most paintings. I try to have several styles of frame around to choose from, so I limit the sizes I paint to about six.

Title plates, those brass or wooden tags that sit on the bottom rail of the frame, are a big problem. If the picture doesn't sell I can't use the frame on a newer piece. I also can't cannibalize the frame for another painting if I suddenly need that size. If you take title plate off, you have two holes and a scar on the finish waiting for you behind it, that means you have to get a new title plate made. And you could have to do that again too, if you use the frame on something else. Why even be alive?

I might also mention that picture frames are cheaper if you buy a number at the same time. The price of frames is negotiated and when you tell a framer you nee 3600 dollars worth of frames you have a right to expect some deference on the always delicate matter of price.

The Hudson River bridge project

Here's a letter from a reader:

A friend of mine is embarking on “painting the Hudson River Bridges,” all 11 or 12 of them. I will join her for several. I agreed more from companionship and friendship than artistic curiosity. However, I do want to do a great job. Question to you- Where do I begin? How to make it interesting when the focus is the bridge. I guess I feel a little overwhelmed dealing with the expansiveness of the Hudson, challenged foreground, etc. Any tips are welcomed.

..............................Regretta Snackfood

Dearest Regretta;

That sounds like a great project. Your friend will have the work for a show when she is done. She could call it "The Bridges on the Hudson", or maybe a little print on demand book with some text from the artist on the bottom of each page about the bridge. You intend to do only a few of them, so I will address my suggestions to your friend, who for convenience sake we will call Xanthippe Cleavage-Heaver. You can use these ideas for the fewer bridges that you do, but I am imagining what would have to happen to get a varied and interesting show out of the larger series of paintings.

If I were Xanthippe, I would have in mind from the outset making each of the paintings a stand alone and individual work, yet have a common thread running through the entire group that knits them into a unified presentation as a group. Bullets please!

• I would take a look at where the show is going to be held, and figure out how a dozen or more paintings could fill it's walls. I would hope to group them in arrays of three or four, but the size and shape of the walls of the gallery or Starbucks will make that decision for me somewhat. It is nice to know this upfront when you can.
• She could do a series of small paintings all the same size and that would be the least work, but a more interesting show would have groups of paintings containing a large picture, probably an elongated shape like a 24 by 36, and several medium sized paintings. I would also include at least two square or nearly square paintings in the mix, one large and one small.
• I don't think I would do any small paintings, or perhaps better, hang them in the next room or add them to the series as a subgroup. I think that having some of the bridges presented as very much smaller and less important pieces would detract from the unity of the show. It might be good to have a half dozen small paintings to bring the number of pieces up from twelve to eighteen. That's enough pictures for a full show, twelve is a little thin.
• Having the small ones might make you some sales anyway if the red dots don't show up, you may sell a few little ones and have some succor for all of your time and effort if the collectors don't sweep in and buy the big ones. In our current economy that might happen. Things is tough out there.
• You could tie all the work together with a unified coloring system or treatment of some kind, but I think I would just make em and respond as best to each location as I could. My own style would probably be enough to make the show look "of a piece" letting some be more colored or dramatic and others have a quieter mood.
• The really big impressive bridges like the George Washington (love that guy!) go on the big canvasses and the less interesting bridges go on the smaller canvasses.
• Some of the bridges are going to be a lot less interesting, I don't know them all but I imagine a few of them are pretty plain I would do vignettes of quirky closeups or interesting angles on those. That should hopefully deal with that problem, rather than just showing them in a matter of fact way in a ll of their ordinaryness.
• It would be good to get some architecture around some of the bridges and some broad expanses of open river and sky in some others. I hope the Newburgh bridge is on the list.
• I would frame them all in the same moulding using a larger version for the larger paintings. Black is hip right now, it is New York and the subject, industrial.
  

Themed shows

OK, there it is.


One of my pet peeves is this, gallery theme shows. That's when a gallery tells all of their artists they are doing a special show and want paintings of some particular subject, say, Forgotten Foods of Yesteryear. I think the only theme that I really like is "New Work". I am a landscape painter, I don't really paint food, but I obligingly and naively do a beautiful 24 by 36 of a suet pudding and take it to them. They say they love it and even put it on the sleazy postcards they send out to be ritually discarded by their clientele. Well it's one of the six on there anyway, cropped.

At the end of the show's run, I go back to the gallery and they hand me back the painting unsold. Again they smile and tell me how much they loved it.They are so sorry it didn't sell, but now they are done with it. They think they have done me a favor, in fact, they included me in a show! Years ago I learned never to work for exposure. Now here I am doing it again! But what am I supposed to do with my apotheosis of suet now? I put all the effort into making something I would never have made except for their request, I wanted to appear to be a good sport, but I wasted two weeks of effort and a pudding, and they still know I'm a crank. I have put out all of that work for nothing. No other gallery is going to want my over the sofa sized quivering desert. I have made a painting that should have been a commission.

Here is what I intend to do in the future. If a gallery calls me and tells me about a "themed" show I will ask myself "will what I make be portable?" For instance, if the gallery is in a place of great natural vistas, or in a historic village, or something else I would ordinarily paint, and they want something local, OK I'm there. If they don't sell it, I can take it somewhere else. But if they want, Steam Driven Wurlitzers that Changed the World, count me out! I will be as polite to the dealer as I can be, but that is the rule. I have lost weeks making things for dealers that they never sold, and I can't afford it.

A newly wed young couple is going to be perplexed, when as their wedding gift they receive my lovely suet pudding painting in a Chinese frame with an open corner. Its a suet pudding! I'll tell them, but they will still look glum.

Should I pay big money to be in a show?

Here is a question I received and I have thrown in a few pictures from Snowcamp . Subject: big national shows Hi Stapleton -- What is your opinion of the big, national shows, such as the Ripov International Show? My friends and I are starting to reach the point of where we're giving up on entering them anymore. With the economy as it's been, sales have not been that great, so some of us don't have the bucks to throw away. The final straw for me was last fall's Trenchmouth invitational. I'd paid a $50 jury fee, then paid $250 for 2 shipping labels (one was for the return shipping). At least they didn't charge a $150 "uncrating fee"! They'd held a preview before the big opening, when a woman asked them to put a hold on my painting. Apparently they didn't ask for a deposit. She never picked up the painting -- and with the "hold" sticker next to it, the painting was unavailable to anybody else. Then the gallery said they couldn't find my prepaid return shipping label (which had been taped to the back of the painting). Fortunately, I'd kept my receipt. But it took several days, hours of driving and waiting, to get a new label printed. I live in a rural area and the hardware store that also handles UPS had to call Help, which was in India, and it was hard to understand each other to resolve the problem. All this time was time I could have been painting. I finally got the label and sent it certified, return receipt requested. Now watch them tell me they couldn't find my shipping box! I see Ripov International's deadline is approaching. After over 10 years of paying $60 annual dues (in order that I could pay $50 jury fees to enter their annual shows), I'm thinking of dropping the whole thing. Have you looked at their show catalogs? They look the same every year, like every still life was painted by (name redacted) I'm tired of trying to fit to their "ideal"! I haven't heard any of my friends being offered a gallery show as a result of being in one of these shows. Maybe it's better to work at doing your own best work, not trying to fit into some group's idea of "the best". I'm showing in good galleries in tourist spots along Serbia's coastline. Tired of throwing away money, hoping to fit into their "ideal". I'd love to read an article on your opinion on this. Thanks!.......... Poodles Duodenumsplicer

Dearest Poodles;
I have written about this before, here is a link to that.
I think that it is a mistake to pay any more than a nominal fee to be in a show. Particularly to be juried into a show. My rule of thumb is this

NEVER PAY TO SHOW YOUR ART!

I think that is way to expensive, if that is the going rate, I'll be gone. My work has value, you don't pay people to borrow something of value from you. I have been in a lot of shows and sometimes things come of it, but seldom. It is good to get out and fly the flag sometimes. But not good enough to put up with all that you have described.

There must be good shows in the area of Serbia where you live? Perhaps your efforts would be better spent getting into and stocking a commercial gallery. I know some very successful artists who never do these kind of shows, come to think of it I don't do them either! I am established enough that I can be that way. If someone approaches me about being in a show I ask them if it is juried. If they say yes, I tell them that my work is well known and my quality is consistent, if they want a piece for a show I may be able to get them one, but I am not going to lend them something that they "might" take. If they want me in a show they can invite me, but I don't have the time to fool around with "maybe they want it, and maybe they don't". My time and art are precious. Treat yours the same way, it will encourage others to treat it that way too.

I also don't do submissions for consideration, that is, if you want me to do a commission, lets talk, but I am not going to put time into a proposal in hopes maybe you will want it. I try to avoid working for free. I don't get many commissions, and that may be part of why, but I don't do any unaccepted proposals either. Again I am an established artist and I can afford to play on my own terms.

Shows do have a certain preference in the kind of work they value. If you are going to submit, you need to have some idea what that is. Often there is a new jury every year and their preferences may vary some, but generally shows have a reputation for showing a particular sort of thing. If it ain't your kind of thing, why waste your time?

Why not do the local shows and build a reputation in your own area. Perhaps you can be a big fish in a little pond, that's not a bad thing to be.
...................................Stape

Relaxing at the beach, somebody bring me a Pina Coolada! I already have the umbrella to go in it.

About doing commissions

Dear Stape,

I want to know your opinion about working on commissions. Recently I got a commission to do a big abstract painting, then I came to know that they wanted a particular painting in mind and asked me to copy it. Though I didnt feel good about copying, I went ahead because it was good money and I needed that. Does this mean that there is no freedom for the artist in commissions? Or it is not the same case all the time? How much can an artist compromise in such cases? Should I have refused the deal because there was no freedom for me to express in my own way?
Thanks,
Malgasay Orogeny

Dear Malgasay:

This question comes in from India. I like doing commissions, but they do take a little prenegotiation or you can end up holding the short end of the stick.
Here is what you need to tell the client up front.

I LIKE DOING COMMISSIONS AND I DON'T CHARGE MORE TO DO THEM.......BUT, I GET HALF UP FRONT, AND HALF UPON YOUR SATISFIED ACCEPTANCE. THE UP FRONT HALF IS NONREFUNDABLE THOUGH, IS THAT GOING TO BE A PROBLEM?

If they won't give you half up front, walk away. You cannot accept their offer otherwise, because that offer is "make the picture that I describe to you, then if I like it I will buy it". That's a losing hand for you. Anyone who is serious will give you half up front without hesitation, any one who won't, is going to be a problem when the piece is finished. So NEVER, EVER do a commission without half up front. If you aren't going to get paid, find out before you do the job!

You need to agree very clearly on what it is they want you to make. It sounds like this job was a little fuzzy from the start. But now they want you to make a copy of an existing painting. That is not a moral dilemma so long as you write "after so-and so below your signature. Copies are fine but the original artist must be credited. I would suggest that you only copy paintings by artists who are dead. Do not copy anything recent enough to be covered by a copyright. Rembrandt is OK, Warhol would not be.

You do give up some freedom on a commission but that is your choice. If you don't want to do the job, don't take the commission. The person who commissions you has every right to get the painting that they contracted for, just as you have a right to expect payment,. that's the deal. If you don't feel like you have room for your self expression, don't do the job. It is nice to make the paintings and if people like them, they buy them. But you are working on spec.

If there is a dealer involved, getting you the commission I would expect them to take around 15% not half. If your dealer wants more, you will have to decide if you want to take the job, but I wouldn't allow them much more. The beauty of doing commissions is generally that there is no dealer involved and you make the full retail price for yourself.

Most people who have commissioned me to do a painting have been excited about the painting and have been a delight to work with. They chose you to do the painting because of their faith in you. That is a complement to your ability. They deserve the best you can give them. Many commissions result in more work from the client or their friends, so I work hard to make them as good as I can. I have been known to make a second painting if they were dissatisfied with the first.

I hope that works out for you and you learn something from copying that abstract. I would grid up your canvas from a photo of the painting you are copying. That will save you some time and since it is a copy you are doing an essentially mechanical exercise.

My job; painter

Bryant Stove and Music Company located in Thorndike, Maine is the best source for restored antique wood stoves. They have an incredible selection and can ship. You may have figured out that I like antique stoves.

I thought I might discuss something that came up in another blog I read recently. That is, what title does our occupation have? Some of you might disagree strongly with this, and that's why there is a comments page.

I NEVER CALL MYSELF AN ARTIST!

To me it sounds pretentious and a little too casual. I am always flattered when other people call me an artist, but I call myself a painter. If people ask what I do, I say " I am a professional oil painter". If people ask "Are you an artist" I reply "Oh! I sure hope so!"

I was told as a student long ago that "A painter who calls himself an artist, is like a priest who calls himself a saint" and I always liked the idea. In fact I think it encourages people to think I am an artist more than my telling them so, they like "giving" me the appellation themselves. It makes em feel generous.

I have noticed that a lot of the pros, at least here in New England will tell you they are a painter rather than an artist. I know a lot of the old timers did that. I think it is probably a 19th century convention, and I do like old timey ideas and things. I am the derriere garde. Calling yourself a painter carries a sort of humility and it is also a code word. When someone tells me they are an artist, I usually expect them to be an amateur. When I hear a stranger tell me they are a painter, my ears pick up and I think I am probably meeting a pro.

When I am at openings there is always some blowhard dressed in black, wearing a beret and loudly telling anyone who will listen " I am an artist!". I fight the urge to ask,"Do you file quarterlies?" but I might ask " NO kidding, maybe I've seen your work, where are you showing?"
I suspect that at at least a subconscious level a lot of people think the speaker is "putting on airs". Even if I didn't have a philosophical reason for calling myself a painter and not an artist, I would still do it for business reasons. It seems more professional to the dealers and clients.

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Item two;

I will never talk a painter down in front of a client, dealer or almost anyone else. I believe this is unprofessional. If their work is weak, others will eventually see it without your pointing it out anyway. I may say very little about their art, but I try not to dump on them. I do this for several reasons. The first is, they may well be trying to feed themselves and their family and I don't want to pull the bread out of their childrens mouths. The other is that it often gets back to them and you might incur a lifetime of resentment, and deserve it too.

Sometimes you will hear an artist ( yes, I happily use that title for OTHER people) run down the work of another artist to build up their own standing with their listeners. That seldom is really effective and instead makes you look insecure at best, and petty at the worst. You will seem confident when you find a good word to say when another artists work is pointed out to you. If you can't figure out anything good to say, try "I like that red" or whatever color dominates the painting. Or remark on it's subject "those are strong looking horses aren't they?" People are really invested in their art, if they aren't hardened pros they may be desperately sensitive to criticism, especially when it is neither private or constructive. They may wear their nervous system on the outside. You can really hurt people with a single casual remark. This is especially true if you are a successful or well known painter, so be kind.

When I am in the company of a trusted friend who is a pro, I may say what I think of a particular painting, but never in earshot of anyone else and only if I know it will go no further. I also feel free to criticize big time New York modernist painters who couldn't possibly be wounded by midgets like me and have such colossal egos that I wish they could be. The dead are also fair game for criticism, unless you are talking to their relatives. I have no problem hurting the feelings of someone who has been dead for a hundred years.

This is a professional courtesy I extend to my fellow artists, and hope for in return. Making it as a painter is hard enough without other artists sabotaging you.